I was looking to see the labellum on this Bunochilus, but it had been triggered. I could see some legs poking out, and as I watched, this fungus gnat finally crawled free of the labellem and galea. Once free, it was persistently trying to get back at the labellum which was still triggered. I watched it for around 45 minutes, but the labellum didn't reset in this time.
Have been checking greenhoods and helmets for fungus gnats with colleagues for the past year and this is one of the best pictures to emerge of sexual deceit of the males. Tobias has a movie of the process on YouTube.
Describe how you intend to use these images and/or audio files and your request will be sent to the author for consideration.
Your request has been successfully submitted to the author for consideration.
2,152,742 sightings of 19,933 species in 6,473 locations from 11,401 contributors
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.